HI!
The MOST PREVALENT problem with current Credit Card Readers (ccrs) is dirt!
Both from stuff falling into them from the environment they exist in, and dirt glomming on to the read/write head off of the cards as they are used. (Yes, some readers also write, updating file information on the card)
Next time you are in a store, at a drive-up gas pump with "pay-at-the-pump", an ATM, etc, take a close look at the ccr.
On the POS terminal (aka cash register), the slot is totally open to the environment, mostly with the opening straight up. Anything and everything in the air - dust, dirt, lint from clothing, etc. - will fall right into the reader. At the pump, there is an open slot, exposed to the outside air and everything in it.
Then, look where the card is carried...in a wallet, rubbing up against other cards, cash, receipts, whatever you stuff in there, or in a ladies handbag, full of cosmetics, tissues, etc.
All of this, to use a technical term, "gunk" adhering to the mag-stripe on the card is forcefully smeared on to the head in the ccr.
99+% of the ccr problems encountered in the field can be fixed with a piece of paper saturated with rubbing alcohol. You scrub the head with it, and the gunk all comes off.
Also, the mag-stripe is abrasive to some extent...not as bad as they were originally, but they DO wear the head.
Now, I don't know how resistive to these problems keepered cards will be, but these problems MUST be taken in to account in design of the media.
Ampex can, and should, see significant income from keepered credit and debit cards, but it MAY be quite some time before market penetration is to the extent that big money starts coming in.
Good luck to us all in the market!!
Ray (have made my living for 30+ years installing and servicing POS and related equipment, and doing contract work in the broadcasting industry) |
